On behalf of the team at BRANDTHINK Malaysia, I am proud to announce that BRANDTHINK Malaysia has been named finalists in 3 categories (DM, PR, Digital) at the upcoming Advertising+Marketing Magazine (A+M) Agency of the Year Awards 2012 (AOTY).

It is an amazing honour to be on this year’s finalist roll call for not just one but three categories that include Public Relations Agency of the Year, Direct Marketing Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year, the only independently owned marketing services agency in Malaysia to achieve this feat this year. This is the fourth year our agency is named finalists, highlighting what we have always believed: that great work comes from passion and focused work.

Since its inception, the winners of Agency of the Year have always won based on one constant: the agency preferences of client marketers. To be considered as a finalist, there is nothing agencies have to do except what they should be doing all the time – doing great work for their clients and communicating that to the client marketer community.

Results will be announced at a gala on 14 June 2012. While we are understandably excited and hopeful for a win, we see this honour as a validation of our focus on creating campaigns that are multi-disciplined in execution but single-minded in focus. Never has it been more important to handle communications from an integrated vantage point, helping clients reach their objectives with a combination of advertising, PR, events and digital/social media disciplines.

Today, the lines that differentiate between different disciplines of marketing are increasingly blurred and we no longer care where advertising ends or public relations begin, where the virtues of offline vs online matters less compared to whether we can influence behaviour and invoke action from the target audience.

Our agency is by no means perfect. There will always be opportunities to grow, and in this constantly shifting industry, change is the only constant. We must continually be in beta mode – listening to shifts, learning as change happens and leading the change when the time comes.

Our story has just begun.

We would like to thank our clients who have supported us, voted for us and most importantly believed in us and we’re excited about all the work we’ll be creating today, tomorrow and for the years to come.

Wish us luck for the 14th!

from Jui Hong Teoh, Managing Director

About the A+M’s Agency of the Year

Advertising+Marketing magazine’s Agency of the Year awards is regarded as the region’s leading barometer of agency performance and the only awards in the world that is wholly judged by client marketers. It honours agencies with outstanding performance in the industry, judging by their business performance, project performance, staff stability, and leadership and vision.

Since its inception, the winners of Agency of the Year have always won based on one constant: the agency preferences of client marketers. To be considered as a finalist, there is nothing agencies have to do except what they should be doing all the time – doing great work for their clients and communicating that to the client marketer community.

Here’s how it works:

Advertising + Marketing magazine’s research partner, Boardroom Research, consults with the marketing community and asks which agencies senior client marketers in Malaysia would most likely engage in the key areas of marketing services. Typically, there are close to 500 respondents.

The rankings from this survey are given to Advertising + Marketing magazine.

The top 10 overall agencies in each category, and the top 3 local agencies in each category, are shortlisted as Agency of The Year finalists.

The finalists are invited to submit entries for consideration, and are closely scrutinised by a jury made up of senior client-side marketers who access each agency’s performance according to the following criteria – performance, product, people, perspectives.

Once the jury has decided on the scores in each category, the rankings are finalised, and the winners – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Local Hero in each category – will be announced at the Agency of the Year Awards & Gala Dinner on 14th June. The agency with the highest overall score will receive the prestigious title of Overall Agency of the Year.